


Midrash Delilah

by Hagar



Category: Jewish Scripture & Legend, Midrash - Fandom, תנ"ך | Tanakh
Genre: Collection: Purimgifts Day 1, Community: purimgifts, Female Jewish Character, Gen, Midrash, POV Female Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-02
Updated: 2015-03-02
Packaged: 2018-03-16 01:16:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3468983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hagar/pseuds/Hagar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Judean woman gave Shimshon life and a Judean woman killed him, they say. That’s the <i>pshat.</i> They also say that one shouldn’t take a text at its <i>pshat.</i> So be wise, woman, and listen to me.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Midrash Delilah

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Port](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Port/gifts).



> Accompanying artwork [here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/3463082).

He had an eye for women, Shimshon did. He was famous for it: he’d desire a woman, her family would disapprove and it would all end in ruin. The destruction he left behind, he was famous for that, too. No matter how he oiled his hair he looked like a brute and he acted like one, too. Smart men kept their distance from Shimshon, and kept their manners about them. Smart women - well. Possessing smarts had nothing to do with it; but whether or not your father was circumcised, that certainly did. He had a taste for the daughters of Philistines, Shimshon did.

And then there was Delilah. She was a Judean girl, Delilah was, over from banks of Sorek, not far from where Shimshon himself had been born and raised in Tzoraa in Dan estate. Shimshon’s mother was a Judean, too. A smart woman would have remembered that it was Hatzleliponi whom the angel spoke to, Hatzleliponi whom God had chosen, and not Manoah her husband. A Judean woman gave Shimshon life and a Judean woman killed him, they say.

The same wise men who say that also say that one shouldn’t take a text at its _pshat._ So be wise, woman, and listen to me.

He had an eye for women, Shimshon did. He’d desire a woman and it would end in ruin - Philistine ruin, because it was their daughters he had a taste for. God’s will, that; the People didn’t rise against the Philistines so the Lord sent his Oath-Bonded to do just that. But if it was God’s will that Shimshon desire the daughters of Philistines, then why did he love Delilah? And he loved her, Shimshon did.

If he hadn’t loved her, he wouldn’t have revealed to her how to strip off his power. If he hadn’t revealed to her how to strip off his power, he wouldn’t have been taken prisoner. If he hadn’t been taken prisoner, he wouldn’t have been put on display before the Philistine captains. If he hadn’t been put on display before the Philistine captains, he wouldn’t have killed more Philistines in his death than he did in his life.

That’s the _pshat_. What do the wise take from this? Listen to me.

It was God’s will that Shimshon love Delilah, as it was His will that Shimshon desire the daughters of Philistines. It was God’s angel who instructed Delilah to badger Shimshon until he wished to die, as it was His angel who instructed Hatzleliponi to oath-bind herself and her then-unborn son. God sent Shimshon to a barren woman’s innards, as He sent Shimshon to bow at a maiden woman’s feet.

He was a brute, Shimshon was. Oath-Bonded to the Lord and a brute still, full of might but not so much with cunning. And so God did what anyone does, who has need for cunning but has the strength of arm to spare: he dispatched a woman. He was of better use to the Lord in his death than in his life, Shimshon was. And that, my dear, is what a wise woman learns from Delilah’s story.

**Author's Note:**

> The name הַצְּלֶלְפּוֹנִי, "Hatzleliponi", is mentioned in Chronicles (1 Chronicles 4:1-3); she and her three brothers are among the descendents of Caleb ben-Yefune. The Sages say she was Manoah's wife, Shimshon's mother.
> 
> Later sources portray Delilah as Philistine and possibly a whore, in accordance with Shimshon's usual taste in women. However, earlier sources (and contemporary ones) point to the location of Sorek River as well as to the text _not_ calling her a Philistine, and claim she was from Clan Yehuda.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[podfic] Midrash Delilah](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10030769) by [Chestnut_filly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chestnut_filly/pseuds/Chestnut_filly)




End file.
